Plum trees

Hi all I am looking for some advice...
We have two plum trees which have been in situ for about 10 years they bloom every year and for the first time this year we got a massive 2 plums from one tree and 6 plums from the other... any ideas as to how we can get a few more plums ? Not sure of the variety but the plums are quite large.

Quite close by there are two eating apple trees that fruit quite well, and another cooking apple tree that hasnt produced anything for the last two years (but this tree is an old one).


Nic S

 

Well if your getting lots of flowers its either lack of pollination or needing some food and water to help pollinated flowers to grow their fruit. What kind of soil are they growing on?

Apples can be biannual with fruit crops but not usually plumbs

 

Soil - if you can call it that is pure sand.

House and garden built on the edge of an old sand quarry plum & apple trees have been fed with a potash feed and have been watered well during the drier months with koi pond waste water which may be a bit high in nitrogen would this stop fruit production?

Nic S

 

Nic, do the plums form and then shrivel and drop off, or do they not really form at all.
If they're shrivelling after forming then as Fran says it probably drought if they're growing on sand.

 

No the fruits dont develop which would suggest a pollination problem

We have plenty of bees etc about, the eating apple trees produce a reasonable amount of fruit they have all been given the same potash feed they are all in a small orchard type area.

They are currently looking at the dreaded 6inch pruning Im getting that fed up, however I have been trying for the last 8 years and will probably give them another couple of years.


Nic

 

Pollination could be a problem - but I doubt if your apples are cropping. It could be just water - apples do better in times of low rain than plums.

Its late to prune them - best done after flowering - to avoid silver leaf, but you could gamble and reduce some of the new shoots. Give 'em another year but this time as they break into leaf, start feeding and watering (a watering can per tree)weekly irrespective if it rains. Use potash rich fertiliser, something like tomotoe food or phosphogen (with fingers crossed that wind doesn't strip the blossom. Then keep watering weekly. If that works then water is the problem and you need to look to mulching or otherwise looking to improve water retention.

Sorry only thing I can suggest.